Royal Palm Beach, Florida
Encyclopedia
Royal Palm Beach is a village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in southeast Florida, located in Palm Beach County
Palm Beach County, Florida
Palm Beach County is the largest county in the state of Florida in total area, and third in population. As of 2010, the county's estimated population was 1,320,134, making it the twenty-eighth most populous in the United States...

. The population was measured at 21,523 in the 2000 census. As of April 2008, the recorded population was 31,864. The community is actually located approximately fifteen miles inland
Inland
Inland is an area of land away from the coast or shore line. It usually refers to the interior part of a country or region.Inland may refer to:* Inland Fräkne Hundred, a hundred of Bohuslän in Sweden...

 from the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 and is the only land-locked municipality in Palm Beach County with "beach" in its name.

Royal Palm Beach is known for its many parks and general mission to protect green space
Open space reserve
Open space reserve, open space preserve, and open space reservation, are planning and conservation ethics terms used to describe areas of protected or conserved land or water on which development is indefinitely set aside...

, as evidenced by the recent acquisition of 190 acre (0.7689034 km²) to create a master central park and development of 25 acres (101,171.5 m²) preserved into a passive bird watching and nature park. The village offers a variety of activities for the outdoor and sports enthusiast: soccer, basketball, RC racing, tennis, Pop Warner
Glenn Scobey Warner
Glenn Scobey Warner , most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American football player and coach...

 youth football and cheer, senior activities, and golf programs are run year round. The public schools within the Village consist of "A" rated elementary and middle schools, however, the high school consistently ranks below average in all areas. There are numerous private schools offering classes from pre-kindergarten through high school.

The Village of Royal Palm Beach is known for its small town atmosphere, family living and culture while maintaining its identity within one of America's largest counties.

History

Incorporated on June 18, 1959, Royal Palm Beach has grown from a mosquito-infested swamp and former Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...

 hunting ground into a thriving village of nearly 25,000 residents.

It was not until the 1950s, when Philadelphia supermarket magnates Sam and Hattie Friedland purchased 65000 acres (263 km²) for approximately $1.25 million in what is now the Royal Palm Beach village and Acreage areas, that the vast wilderness became destined to be the U.S.A.’s fastest growing community (in its size category) in the 1980s. The Friedlands subsequently sold their land to Miami developer Arthur Desser, founder of Lefcourt Realty Group. About 4200 acres (17 km²) were earmarked for Desser’s Royal Palm Beach development.

It was Desser’s vision that spurred the initial development of the Village of Royal Palm Beach. A massive drainage project ensued and in 1959, the state legislature granted a charter which named the development Royal Palm Beach. The seeming inappropriateness of that name is thanks to Desser, a multi-millionaire much taken with the posh Town of Palm Beach miles east of his fledgling development.

According to a former Lefcourt engineer now living in Wellington, Desser wanted the name “Palm Beach” to be included in the new community’s name. Obviously, there is only one Palm Beach (courtesy of Henry Flagler, not Arthur Desser) so it was decided that since Desser also liked the stately royal palms of Palm Beach, he would dub his development “Royal Palm Beach.”

On June 30, 1959, with Seminole tribe officials on hand for the festivities (and to renounce all former claims to the land), a groundbreaking ceremony was held. Royal Palm Beach was on its way. Engineering began for the village’s myriad waterways and a basic system of roads. A sales/recreational center was built with a motel facility in the area now occupied by the Royal Inn and two bedroom, one-bath model homes were erected starting at $8,250.

Village government — initially in the form of a developer-appointed council — later became popularly elected in 1964. Not until 1977 did the Village Council find a permanent home in the present Village Hall complex. To date, there have been 15 mayors who have served the village — some as single-term and part-term mayors — others, like Sam Lamstein (1982–1990), formal County Commissioner Tony Masilotti (1992–1998), and current Mayor David Lodwick (since 1998) have won voter approval for multi-terms. Mailotti shamed the Village in 2007 when he pled guilty to federal crimes and is currently serving out his prison term.

Arthur Desser’s dream of a “nouveau” Palm Beach were short-lived, however, with the bankruptcy of Lefcourt in 1961. His interest was bought out by Friedland who then established Royal Palm Beach Colony Inc. to continue village development. A grocery store magnate with no experience in the housing market, Friedland nonetheless was a savvy businessman who put together a team of professionals who set up a comprehensive land sales/development/building enterprise. With the late Herbert Kaplan as RPB Colony CEO, the company and the town grew slowly from 1960-67 — first in the original “Colony” section of floral-named streets east and west of the southern end of Royal Palm Beach Blvd., and then expanded with vigor into the Willows and LaMancha subdivisions (east of RPB Blvd.).

A marketing push began in 1979 to offer to builders tracts of land. With this growth phase the Village ballooned over the next 15 years. In 1983, Crestwood Middle School opened as the first community school followed in 1985 and 1989, respectively, by H.L. Johnson and Cypress Trails Elementary schools. Royal Palm Beach High School opened its doors to 1,100 students a year late in 1997 following construction delays and a leaky roof system. Schools in the western communities continue to open in rapid succession — often with student bodies at or near capacity the first year. The 2002-2003 school year included the opening of the village’s third elementary school on Okeechobee Blvd., just west of the Madison Green residential development.

In 1986, both Palms West Hospital and Wellington Regional Medical Center opened with 117 and 120 beds, respectively, and both are continuing with major expansion projects to meet the health care needs of local residents. With the hospitals came a building boom of medical office complexes on the campuses of both hospitals, as well as a Royal Palm Beach health center built by West Palm Beach’s Good Samaritan Medical Center.

Since the village’s inception, public safety has been foremost in the minds of residents and village officials. In June 1960, Joseph Klopp became the first Royal Palm Beach police chief. That first year, “Klopp the Cop” was the sole full-time officer with several auxiliary part-timers. Today, the accredited department boasts nearly 50 sworn officers plus dispatchers, school crossing guards, detectives, a captain, and the chief based in a modern, computerized department in a building within the Village Hall complex. In 2007 the policing duties were contracted out to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's department with a significant savings to the Village taxpayers.

Royal Palm Beach residents have also appreciated the security of a local fire department since a volunteer force of eight individuals was recruited in a construction trailer in January 1963. In 1969, the department moved its headquarters to a maintenance building in the present Commerce Park, which featured three bays and two trucks. A final move in 1976 to the department’s building on Royal Palm Beach Blvd. enabled the department to expand its manpower and equipment. At that time, the department shared the building with the police department.

Village firefighters weren’t paid until 1972 and the two full-timers on staff made about $6,000 a year. The following year, three more full-time firefighters were hired, and in 1975, Combs became the first full-time chief at a salary of $13,500 a year. With a growing population, and thankfully few structural fires, the focus of the department expanded to include emergency medical treatment. Combs and a department lieutenant were enrolled in the county’s first paramedic-rescue course and, less than a week later, answered a cardiac arrest call for a village resident who would have died had Combs not taken the course. Within the next four years, the department hired 18 additional paramedic/EMT trained firefighters. A second station opened in 1994 at the entrance of the Counterpoint Estates to cut response times to residents living in the State Road 7 area. In March 1999, following a council-authorized study by consultants, a controversial and much-debated decision was made to curtail an independent village fire department and instead merge equipment and personnel with Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue.

Village recreation needs were not over-looked during the booming growth period and since 1974. Under the department’s purview are approximately 325 acres (1.3 km²) of parks and green space as well as the village’s 6300 square feet (585.3 m²) Cultural Center which opened in 1993.

Now the village residents had a government, schools for their children, police and fire protection, leisure and health care, there was yet another need to be met and retailers — albeit reluctantly at first — began to recognize the buying power of western residents.

Unlike the dazzling array of shopping possibilities now a mere five-minute drive away for area residents, early villagers needed a valid driver’s license and a full tank of gas to get to commercial/retail centers located far to the east.

Today, a person living in Royal Palm Beach could literally be born, raised, entertained, educated, fed, clothed, purchase a car, get medical treatment, enter a nursing home, die, have a funeral, and then buried all within a five-mile (8 km) radius of home — Royal Palm Beach.

Arthur Desser and Sam Friedland would, no doubt, be amazed to see how fully their vision of a brand new town blossomed from former swamplands into the bustling and popular community it is today.
By Barbara F. Isenberg, former Village Council member

Since 1990, Royal Palm Beach has been named as a Tree City USA
Tree City USA
Tree City USA is a tree planting and tree care program sponsored by the National Arbor Day Foundation for cities and towns in the United States.- Requirements :...

. Its entire area is designated as a bird sanctuary.

Geography

Royal Palm Beach is located at 26°42′21"N 80°13′36"W (26.705851, -80.226554).

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the village has a total area of 10.1 square miles (26.1 km²). 9.9 square miles (25.6 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km²) of it (1.79%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 21,523 people, 7,604 households, and 5,976 families residing in the village. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 2,176.0 inhabitants per square mile (840.3/km²). There were 8,083 housing units at an average density of 817.2 per square mile (315.6/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 78.15% White (69.4% were Non-Hispanic White,) 14.21% African American, 0.28% Native American, 2.63% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.30% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 2.38% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.83% of the population.

There were 7,604 households of which 63.9% were childfree married couples, 42% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 11% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.4% were non-related individuals. 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.20.

In the village the population was spread out with 28.6% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 91.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.6 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $54,766, and the median income for a family was $61,063. Males had a median income of $39,356 versus $29,991 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the village was $21,875. About 3.7% of families and 4.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.2% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

As of 2000, speakers of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 as a first language
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...

 accounted for 85.80% of all residents, while Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 was at 11.49%, and Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...

 as a mother tongue made up 0.48% of the population.

As of 2000, Royal Palm Beach had the eighty-ninth highest percentage of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n residents in the US, with 2.95%, while its Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

n community had the thirty-second highest percentage in the US, with 4.10% of the population (tied with Tamarac
Tamarac, Florida
Tamarac is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,427. It is part of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census....

 and Goulds
Goulds, Florida
Goulds is a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The area was originally populated as the result of a stop on the Florida East Coast Railroad. The railroad depot was located near the current Southwest 216th Street. The community was named after its operator, Lyman...

.)

Mission statement

The Mission of the Village of Royal Palm Beach Mayor and Council is to represent the public interest, promote quick, courteous response to residents' problems, provide leadership and direction to the Village's future, and assure the present and future fiscal integrity of the municipal government. The Village of Royal Palm Beach strives to provide its citizens with a clean, safe, family oriented community.

Mayor

The Mayor of Royal Palm Beach is currently Matty Mattioli. His term expires in March 2012.

City Council

The city council consists of four chairs. The following are established and filled:
  • Seat 4: Councilman Fred Pinto

  • Seat 3: Councilman Richard Valuntas

  • Seat 2: Vice Mayor Martha Webster

  • Seat 1: Vacant

Public safety

The Village of Royal Palm Beach does not have a Public Safety Department. Both Fire and Police services are provided by Palm Beach County. On March 19, 1999, Royal Palm Beach Fire-Rescue merged with Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue
Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue
Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue is a combination career/volunteer fire department responsible for providing Fire Protection, Emergency Medical Services, ALS Transport, Hazardous Materials Mitigation, Special Operations, Aircraft Firefighting, 9-1-1 Dispatching, Public Education, Fire Inspections,...

.

Fire and Rescue Department

Currently, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue
Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue
Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue is a combination career/volunteer fire department responsible for providing Fire Protection, Emergency Medical Services, ALS Transport, Hazardous Materials Mitigation, Special Operations, Aircraft Firefighting, 9-1-1 Dispatching, Public Education, Fire Inspections,...

 provides Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services to the citizens of Royal Palm Beach. There are two fire station in RPB: Station 28 and Station 29. Station 28 is the Battalion 2 Headquarters. The Battalion Chief over Royal Palm Beach, and the other six Western Community fire stations is Nigel Baker.

Police Department

Currently, the police department over Royal Palm Beach is the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office: District 9. District 9 covers Royal Palm Beach, and is commanded by Captain Tony Araujo.
District 9 of the Sheriffs Office is currently commanded by Captain Eric Coleman.

Local newspapers

The Palm Beach Post is a daily newspaper that serves all of Palm Beach County.
The Town Crier
Town Crier (newspaper)
The Town Crier is a group of Toronto-based community newspapers now published by Multimedia Nova Corporation.The newspaper is distributed in seven editions to nine communities throughout the city of Toronto...

is a newspaper that serves Royal Palm Beach and the nearby communities of Wellington
Wellington, Florida
Wellington is a village in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. As of 2006, the village had a population of 55,584 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Wellington is part of the South Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

, The Acreage
The Acreage, Florida
The Acreage is an unincorporated community located in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, with a 2010 US Census Bureau population count of 38,704. It is located in the areas north of Royal Palm Beach and Loxahatchee Groves, and is approximately northwest of West Palm Beach. Most of the...

, and Loxahatchee
Loxahatchee, Florida
Loxahatchee is a community located in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located in the areas north of Wellington and west and northwest of Royal Palm Beach, Florida and approximately west of West Palm Beach. Loxahatchee is also the name of the Post Office that serves this area,...

 (Loxahatchee Groves
Loxahatchee Groves, Florida
Loxahatchee Groves is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States.The town was incorporated November 1, 2006 as the 38th municipality in Palm Beach County. The first election for town council members was held on March 13, 2007....

.)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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